Big Wide World
by noodlenut12
Summary: Tessa Elderitch is the teeny witch of not much height, academic ability or family approval. Her final year at Hogwarts is going to be the make or break she needs, but will her distracting friends and equally distracting boys ruin her chances of success?


And so it started.  
Her final year at school. Tessa Elderitches' 7th year at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. She peered about the platform, drinking up the scene before her. Never again would she stroll platform 9 & ¾ knowing she was going to have another fun-filled year of magical enjoyment. It was rather tragic, she thought, that in 9 months' time she would have to venture out into the _big wide world_ as her older Brother Cameron put it, find a job and support herself.  
As she handed her bags to the train assistant she felt sad that this was the last time his smiling face would accept her bags and say a cheerful hello to her grouchy owl Kevin. She saw first years kissing their parents and rushing aboard the train and she wondered if she would become a teacher, just so she could laugh at how small they were (even though half of them were rivaling her height already). As she wandered back to her Mother she saw friends sharing summer stories, hugs and gifts from their exciting holiday travels. She wondered where her own friends were and her temper rose. Lily had promised to meet her by the lamppost 15 minutes ago, and Tessa was as impatient as all hell. She hitched up her tights in an un-ladylike fashion to relieve some of her building tension, which caused her Mother to pinch her sharply on the arm.

"Tessa-act your gender please", Her mother muttered out of the corner of her mouth,  
"Well, if you'd let me wear what I wanted I wouldn't have to readjust my posture with every breath I take", she snapped back, attracting interest from a fair-haired family standing nearby.  
"Tessa, heaven knows what you wear around school when there is no one there to dress you. Act your age and get some independence"  
"Just because I don't keep up the respectable appearances that the rest of your _darling_ family does, it doesn't mean I can't look after myself!"  
By now the pale group standing nearby were ogling them as if they were some kind of comedy duo.  
"I'm going. See you at Easter," Tessa said to her Mother, "…if I can be bothered wasting money on flooing home" she muttered under her breath  
Her Mother stood there awkwardly for a moment, glanced at the family still watching them and shouted after Tessa- "Give your sister a kiss goodbye from me!"-as if to make herself seem more normal.  
"Good to know I got a kiss goodbye" Tessa mumbled, with absolutely no intention of crossing paths with her perfect-little-princess sister until she was back home at the end of the year. As she stormed through the crowds of anticipating students she saw a certain redheaded someone standing about 10 meters away. "OH-ho-ho! That bitch is dead!"

She marched up to Lily Evans who was gazing the opposite way, and gave her a sharp kick to the leg. "I said LAMPPOST you fool!" she yelled  
Lily Evans rubbed her newly bruised leg and frowned, pointing upwards. "What do you think this is, idiot?"  
Tessa stared blankly up at the lamppost above her head. Then she turned slowly around the platform to look at the 30-or-so other lampposts that were lined along the walls. "Oh."  
"Maybe before you make plans you should check with me to make sure they can be achieved successfully?" Lily said, eyebrows raised  
Tessa struggled for words then decided that she _was _an idiot. "Nice turnout. Where's your parents?" she enquired,  
"Tuney got accepted into a private school. St Albany's regional college for young Ladies_. _Mum and Dad are helping her 'fit into the new social atmosphere'_"_ Lily quoted her parents enthusiastic tone. "I think she's trying to _beat _me," She added as an afterthought.  
"There's nothing like a little bit of sibling rivalry to spice things up" Tessa said, waggling her eyebrows in an almost sexual manner.  
"What is wrong with you?" Lily remarked, disgustedly. "Also, I meant to ask. Did your mother dress you today?"  
"_However _did you _guess?_" Tessa replied exaggeratedly. "Was it the 'respectable' collar or the 'presentable' pleated skirt?"  
"A bit of both, really. Where is your dear family? Ran off on them already?" Lily asked as they boarded the train.  
"Can't really call my lone Mother family. Now that Cameron and Evangeline have graduated there isn't much point coming to see dumb Tessa head off to ye old Hogwarts"  
"What about Odette? She still goes to this school, remember?"  
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that mynx" Tessa said spitefully. "Dad was nearly in tears he couldn't come to wave her off. '_My beautiful Odette! Fourth year and already as pretty as a petal!' _Silly man doesn't know that his beautiful daughter is putting her beauty to 'good use'_"_  
"I know you well, and I know you're jealous" Lily said knowingly as she peered into the carriages, looking for their friends as the train began to roll along the tracks.  
"I'm not jealous; I just get sick of being ignored all summer! I'm craving some recognition and compliments, Lily!" she said exasperatedly.  
A girl with long dark hair popped her head out of a carriage a short while away and smiled with great big pearly teeth.  
"Look! There's Dorcas! Trust them to sit the farthest away from the prefects' carriage. And quit looking so glum" Lily added to Tessa "You've got much better hair than Odette. At least yours is natural"  
"I'm not looking for an uplift on the physical appearance, you shallow fool. I'm sick of being treated like a dumbass at home. I want my family to realize that I _can_ make my own decisions!" Tessa cried  
Lily put her hand on the door handle and froze to turn around and look down at Tessa, suddenly seeming aggravated. "Tess, you're not an idiot, and you're not dumb. Your family don't think you're stupid, they just have high expectations because all your family have been geniuses as far back as your family tree dates, and I know its shallow to say this about your family, but I think that they expect less of you because you're not a Ravenclaw. Your abilities lie outside the fields of Academia, and your parents are the idiots for not being able to realize you don't have to get outstanding on every test to succeed in life!"

During her speech Lily's long red hair had became frazzled with her stress and she spat out a few strands caught in her mouth, which joined the crinkled ones already framing her face.  
"Uhh Lily, your hair…" Tessa tried to tell Lily, who was usually a hair perfectionist  
"Not Now Tessa, just get inside the carriage" Lily said, wrenching the door open in anger  
"Ok, but don't say I didn't warn you…" Tessa said as she stepped inside to sit beside her fellow Gryffindors.  
Nearest the door sat Dorcas Meadows, with shiny black hair that fell aggressively around her face, especially her fringe which always seemed to defy the laws of gravity, much like her ample bosom which was the envy of every girl and the lust of every boy at Hogwarts. She lounged casually about the carriage, sucking on a licquorice wand, visibly in ecstasy.  
"Enjoying that, Dorcas?" asked Violet Huntingdon, amused at the way Dorcas savored every lick. Violet certainly lived up to her name with her head of smooth purple hair, and between the round purple head and thin, elongated body she rather resembled a giant lollipop.  
"Does anyone want one? I've got a whole packet in my bag." Dorcas said, now offering around the carriage a crumpled packet of licorice.  
"Thanks, Dorcas…" "Ta, I love these…" Everyone in the cabin accepted one, except Phoebe Sheringham, who claimed she was 'watching her weight'. Phoebe was a shy, timid girl with plain, mousy brown hair, which she slicked back into a ponytail. To think she was ordinary was to be ignorant, as behind her large rimless glasses were cute brown eyes, full of caring and loyalty.  
"Only idiots watch their weight. Eat one or I'll shove it down your throat!" barked Violet, waving one menacingly in Phoebe's face.  
"Ohh, I don't know…my Mum said I should be careful and not eat too much this year. She said 7th year stress can make you comfort eat!" Worried Phoebe  
"Your dickhead Mum didn't even do 7th year, Phoebe. She dropped out to be an airhead fashion model." Tessa remarked  
"Well..she IS my Mum…" Phoebe said uncertainly  
"Screw her, she's an arse. You're of age, Phoebe, you need to listen to Tessa and get away from her while you can" Violet said, pouncing on Phoebe before she could reply and forcing a sweet into her mouth.  
The carriage became filled with the screams of laughter from Dorcas, Tessa and Violet and the muffled protests of Phoebe whose mouth was being forced shut by Violet until she swallowed the licorice. Lily stood up to intervene but was pulled off by Dorcas, and the two went tumbling out into the corridor, where a wrestling match became the new interest of the girls in the carriage. Violet and Phoebe abandoned their struggles and went out to watch Lily trying to throw off Dorcas whilst she dug her fingers into Lily's armpits.  
"Get OFF! Hahaha…. I'm head girl now hahah….I need to look respectable! Ahhh ha…. There are FIRST YEARS in here!" she bellowed in between fits of laughter.  
"Some head girl you are Lily! Getting into fights with other students!" Dorcas said menacingly, grinning with her own evil power over Lily.

A carriage a few doors down opened and out stepped two boys, one with neat Sandy Blonde hair and the other with Messy Black. The two wore equal looks of bemusement and seemed unable to react to the scene in front of them. The girls remained oblivious to the two, until they stepped right into the center of the action.  
"Uh, lily?" The boy with the messy hair asked, trying to put a hand in to pull the two apart.  
Lily realized that they had company and screamed, "stop! STOP!" and tied to sit up so quickly that she head butted Dorcas, sending her flying back into the wall of the train with an "Oomph!"  
Lily stood up and flattened out her jacket, tucking her hair behind her ears and standing up to her fullest height. "Hello Potter." She said brusquely, "Can I help you?"  
The rest of the girls, sensing tension, snuck back into the carriage and shut the doors quietly behind themselves.  
"Sorry to interrupt _playtime_, but as the new head boy and girl we must go down to the prefects cabin and introduce ourselves?"  
James smiled, evidently as charmingly as he could, and held out a hand for Lily to take, at which she stared, puzzled, before snapping her eyes up to James' and exclaiming, surprised, "_You're_ head boy? Then what is Remus doing here?"  
James looked at Lily, offended, but before he could speak, Remus spoke for him.  
"I'm only a _mere _prefect, now." He said, beaming "Believe it or not, James got the title. And-"  
"-And this means we are going to be spending a lot of time together, Evans!" James exclaimed cheerfully. "Would you like me to escort you down to the prefects carriage?"  
Lily opened and closed her mouth a few times, before saying in a feeble voice "You two head down, I just have to say goodbye to the girls…" and ducking inside the carriage as quickly as she could.

She waited for Remus and James to stroll away before shouting "WHY on gods earth did professor Dumbledore make HIM head Boy? And, if there is some reason that I CANNOT fathom for him getting the role, WHY would be put me through such torture as to make ME head girl?"  
"Calm down, you crazy bitch" said Tessa, "I doubt Dumbledore made the decision based on the relationship between you and James"  
Lily sat down and put her head in her hands "Why oh why oh why…" she repeated, shaking her head.  
After 5 minutes of unsuccessful reassurance, Violet stood up, grabbed Lily by the collar and threw her into the corridor.  
"Get out and go to that stupid prefect Orgy! Maybe when you come back you will have to report some changes James Potter has made to his Personality! Don't come back until I have seen those boys return to their own carriage of filth!" Violet yelled.

Lily started to walk fast down to the front of the train, looking back occasionally in fear, probably a mixture between her fear of Violet's rage and her fear of being stuck on duties for a whole year with James Potter.  
Tessa laughed as Violet sat back down, grinning. James Potter had to be the most determined boy in all of Hogwarts, determined to secure the heart of Lily, and likewise she had to be the most determined girl in driving away his affections. All Tessa's insecurities about her place in family life blew away as she laughed effortlessly with her friends, knowing that her real family was indeed these girls that she was going to live with every minute of every day for the next 9 months. Forget lamenting something ending, this was the beginning of a very special year.  
However, she did not yet know what it had in store.


End file.
